A group of researchers has discovered that vitamin D can alter the development of melanoma by affecting a specific signaling pathway within the melanoma cells. The study indicates that vitamin D can enhance the growth and survival of melanoma cells by modifying this pathway. According to the researchers, there is a possibility of enhancing the immune system's ability to combat melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, by reducing the activity of the pathway influenced by vitamin D. Although researchers have noticed that individuals with melanoma and low levels of vitamin D have poorer outcomes, the reason behind this connection has been unknown.

 A recent study by Cancer Research, researchers have uncovered a molecular explanation for how vitamin D can impact the growth and spread of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. Professor Julia Newton-Bishop, a dermatology expert from the University of Leeds in the UK, notes that this new discovery will aid in the understanding of melanoma's growth and spread while also potentially leading to new treatment targets. Additionally, the findings reveal that vitamin D could assist the immune system in fighting against cancer. Cancer occurs when cells begin to grow and divide uncontrollably. Melanoma, a type of skin cancer, starts in melanocytes, the cells that produce the pigment responsible for skin, hair, and eye color. Even though melanoma is the least common type of skin cancer, it is considered the most perilous because if not diagnosed and treated early, there is a greater risk of the cancer spreading to other areas of the body.

As per the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 2.3% of individuals in the United States will be diagnosed with melanoma at some point in their lives. The NCI also estimates that over 92% of people diagnosed with melanoma survive at least 5 years after the diagnosis, and in 2016, nearly 1,196,000 people in the U.S. were living with melanoma.To understand how vitamin D affects melanoma, Professor Newton-Bishop and her team conducted a study on the cell biology of vitamin D. They started by studying the absence of a protein called the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and how it affects the cells. Vitamin D is unable to send signals into cells if they do not have VDRs on their surface. The signal is released into the cell by the binding of the vitamin D molecule to its matching receptor. 

 The team studied the VDR gene, which provides instructions for making the VDR protein, to examine what happens in cells without the VDR protein. They investigated 703 human melanoma tumor samples and another 353 melanoma tumors that had spread from the original site. They also looked for links between the gene's activity and the thickness of the melanoma tumors, how fast they grew, and any genetic alterations that may be associated with faster tumor growth.